Judicial decision aids San Antonio streetcar

VIA Metropolitan Transit officials in San Antonio, Tex., on Tuesday, April 15, 2014, welcomed a judicial ruling that any appeal of a decision to use bonds to build a new multimodal station, to be used by streetcars among other modes, must pay nearly $4 million.

The ruling puts a financial burden on the League of United Latin American Citizens, which objected to VIA’s prospective use of bonds to build transportation facilities involving streetcars. The citizens group said VIA Metropolitan Transit had misled voters on the money to be raised.

VIA Metropolitan Transit also scored a political victory last January, after the state’s attorney general said will not appeal a judgment affirming the right of the agency to sell bonds for several projects, including the two downtown transit depots to serve as hubs for a streetcar system.

The agency hopes to begin construction on the first portion of a two-route streetcar system in 2015, with service commencing sometime in 2017.